New blood test could provide early diagnosis of cancer

Scientists claimed to have developed a simple blood test, which can accurately detect the early stages of breast and lung cancer in just an hour. Researchers from the Kansas State University developed the test that can detect cancer, even before symptoms like coughing and weight loss start.

The test works by detecting increased enzyme activity in the body. Iron nanoparticles coated with amino acids and a dye, are introduced to small amounts of blood or urine from a patient. The amino acids and dye interact with enzymes in the patient’s urine or blood sample. Each type of cancer produces a specific enzyme pattern, or signature, that can be identified by doctors.

The test was developed by chemistry professor Stefan Bossmann and anatomy professor Deryl Troyer. Professor Troyer said, “Right now the people who could benefit the most are those classified as at risk for cancer, such as heavy smokers and people who have a family history of cancer. The idea is these at risk groups could go to their physician’s office quarterly or once a year, take an easy to do, non invasive test, and be told early on whether cancer has possibly developed.”

The fact that this test specifically tests for lung cancer and breast cancer, is of significant importance. The American Cancer Society estimates about 40,000 breast cancer deaths and 160,000 lung cancer deaths are expected in the United States for 2012. Also as these statistics from Cancer Research UK show below, lung and breast cancer are the two most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide.

The 10 Most Commonly Diagnosed Cancers Worldwide:

• Lung – (13%)
• Breast – (11%)
• Colorectum – (10%)
• Stomach – (8%)
• Prostrate – (7%)
• Liver – (6%)
• Cervix – (4%)
• Oesophagus – (4%)
• Bladder – (3%)
• Non Hodgkin Lymphoma – (3%)

Unfortunately breast and lung cancer also feature in the top 5, for most common causes of death from cancer worldwide. With the exception of breast cancer, most types of cancer can be categorized in 4 stages based on tumour growth and the spread of cancer cells throughout the body. The diagnosis is made in most situations in stage 2 or 3, when the survival rate is lower than stage 1 or 2.  In addition, Bossmann said, “that very few people manage to discover they have cancer in early stages.”

Breast and lung cancer are typically found and diagnosed in stage 2, the stage when people often begin exhibiting symptoms such as pain, fatigue and coughing. Numerous studies show that the earlier cancer is detected, the greater chance a person has against the disease. “The problem, though, is that nobody knows they’re in stage 1. There is often not a red flag to warn that something is wrong. Meanwhile, the person is losing critical time,” said Professor Bossmann.

Researchers evaluated the test’s accuracy on 32 separate participants in various stages of breast or lung cancer. Data was collected from 20 people with breast cancer, ranging in age from 36 to 81 years old and 12 people with lung cancer, ranging in age from 27 to 63 years old.

Twelve people without cancer were also tested as a control group. This group ranged in age from 26 to 62 years old. A blood sample from each participant was tested three times. Analysis of the data showed a 95 percent success rate in detecting cancer in participants.

Bossmann said, “These enzyme patterns can also help distinguish between cancer and an infection or other diseases, which commonly occur in the human body. For example, a person who smokes a lot of cigars may develop an inflammation in their lungs. That will drive up some of the markers in the test but not all of them. Doctors will be able to see whether there was too much smoke inhalation or if there is something more serious going on. False positives are something that we really want to avoid.”

In addition to early detection, the test can be used to monitor cancer and observe the effectiveness of drugs, as a patient is being treated. Similarly, doctors can use the dye in the test to determine if the entirety of a tumour has been successfully removed from a patient after surgery. The researchers have designed a second testing method that is anticipated to produce the same results in about five minutes. Also, researchers want to develop a similar test to detect pancreatic cancer earlier.

Enzyme research could help burn fat three times faster

Chemists at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that enzymes involved in breaking down fat, can now be manipulated to work three times harder by turning on a molecular switch. Being able to control this chemical on/off button could have massive implications for curing diseases related to obesity including diabetes, cardio vascular disease, stroke and even skin problems like acne. But the implications may be wider.

The results suggest that the switch may be a common characteristic of many more enzymes. Since enzymes are miniscule worker molecules, that control a vast variety of functions in cells, if the switches are standard, it may well be one of the most important discoveries in enzymology.

According to Professor Dimitrios Stamou, who heads a multidisciplinary team of scientists at the Nano Science Center, and Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen: “If many enzymes turn out to be switched on in the same way as the ones we’ve studied, this opens a door to understanding and maybe curing, a wide range of diseases.”

The discovery of these enzyme switches contradicts previous ideas of how cells control the function of enzymes, such as the fat eating lipase used in the current study. Researchers used to think that these enzymes work continuously at varying levels of efficiency, but in fact they are quite lazy. They work at a fixed efficiency for a given amount of time (working hours), and then they rest. And that’s good news for enzyme designers. Using these new found enzyme switches resulted in tripling the working hours of fat eating lipase enzymes, from 15 percent of the time to 45 percent of the time.

Assistant Professor Nikos Hatzakis, who was deeply involved in the scrutiny of the enzymes explained: “In enzymes, function is decided by the shape of the molecule. So making them more efficient would have required a major reconstruction. In some cases so difficult that it is on the order of transforming a handsaw into a chainsaw. Changing the fundamental shape of a tool is always difficult, whether it’s a saw or an enzyme. But working longer hours with the same tool is infinitely easier. What we’ve achieved, is to make enzymes work longer hours.”

Observing that enzymes even have an on off switch may sound easy, but first the Bio Nano team had to devise a way to study individual enzyme molecules. These are so small, that there are trillions in just a drop of water. To perform their studies the researchers chose a fat degrading lipase enzyme. They used fat that would emit light each time the enzyme took a bite. This way they could monitor each and every single action of the enzyme.

Proffesor Dimitrios Stamou concluded by saying: “Now that we have understood how to switch enzymes on and off, we could use this knowledge in the future, for curing a wide range of diseases and conditions.”